Quotes by William Penn

“True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.”

“I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.”

“Nothing does reason more right, than the coolness of those that offer it: For Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers”

“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”

“Passion is a sort of fever in the mind, which ever leaves us weaker than it found us.”

“Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men than men upon governments. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But, if men be bad, let the government be ever so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn.”

“We sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end.”

“O friend, never strike sail to a fear! Come into port greatly, or sail with God the seas”

“Seeing that a Pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness”

“A good End cannot sanctify evil Means; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good may come of it”

“Love is the hardest lesson in Christianity; but, for that reason, it should be most our care to learn it.”

“Force may subdue, but love gains, and he that forgives first wins the laurel.”

“Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants”

“I know no religion that destroys courtesy, civility, and kindness.”

“The wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs, which are brief and pithy. Collect and learn them; they are notable measures of directions for human life; you have much in little; they save time in speaking; and upon occasion may be the fullest and safest answer.”

“The Humble, Meek, Merciful, Just, Pious and Devout Souls, are everywhere of one religion; and when Death has taken off the Mask, they will know one another, though the divers Liveries they wear here make them Strangers.”

“He that does good for goods sake seeks neither paradise nor reward, but he is sure of both in the end”

“When I am gone, remember me with smiles and laughter, as that is how I will remember you. But if you should remember me with tears and sorrow, I may not remember you at all.”

“I thought that I had no time for faith nor time to pray, then I saw an armless man saying his Rosary with his feet.”

“there is an old saying that when you whistle the devil dances. So why are you standing still?”